A winter storm blanketed a wide swath of the US Northeast with a picturesque white layer and given ski resorts a boost, but caused dangerous travel conditions and complicated shopping plans less than two weeks before Christmas.

Multiple accidents were reported on roadways throughout the Midwest and Northeast, while airports reported hundreds of cancellations.

Airlines canceled nearly 1,200 flights because of the storm, including almost 375 flights into and out of Newark, New Jersey, and 189 at Chicago's O'Hare airport.

"It's a pretty bad day for Newark," said Mark Duell, a spokesman for FlightAware, a website that tracks commercial airlines. More than 40 percent of Newark's 900 flights were cut, he said.

The weather contributed to four deadly crashes on Missouri roads on Friday and Saturday and drivers in states throughout the path of the storm were warned of slick road conditions from snow and ice.

Parts of New England could see up to a foot by the time the front pulls out early Sunday and ushers in high winds that could be a hazard of their own. Up to 35 centimetres could fall in coastal towns in Maine.

The storm dropped more than 15 centimetres on parts of interior Pennsylvania by sundown, and speed limits were reduced on major interstates.